Red-carpeted Welcome Mat

March 10, 1986

TORONTO — For most of the first half of this century, Canada used its laws and, on occasion, violence to bar Chinese immigrants. But today, Canadian officials in Hong Kong tout opportunities for Chinese in Canada and tinker with immigration regulations to skim off the brightest and the richest of those scrambling to leave Hong Kong before the British colony passes into the hands of Communist China in 1997. Canadian officials estimate that Hong Kong and other Asian business immigrants put more than $500 million into Canadian businesses last year to meet the conditions of their special visas.